Brook is amazing. I mean it, he's amazing. At first I was purely laughing at how eccentric he was. He was a goofy skeleton man with a phenomenal voice and a great laugh. He constantly contradicts himself saying that he's a gentleman and then immediately bangs forks together with Luffy shouting "dinner, dinner, come on baby!", or like when he asks to see girls panties. It seems nearly everything he says ends up coming out the opposite. He's full of life and I honestly saw him as nothing more than a hilarious skeleton man. But then, it hit me. Why is he so cheerful? Especially after everything he's been through. He had a crew of friends and they all died. He's been alone forever on the ship of his dead friends, stuck with only himself and his thoughts. He essentially lives in a timeless infinity that's always night time. His life is honestly a living hell. As he put it, he wanted to die, he was probably suicidal at times. That's enough to drive one to insanity.
So, why, why is he so happy? Why is he eating food?! He's a skeleton and I'm sure he didn't eat stranded out in the dark sea like he has been. Well, I think he's just waited so long to have a chance to see human beings and be happy again that when they showed up and especially when Luffy wasn't even scared of his horrifying appearance and invited him to his crew he was full of happiness. I bet he doesn't have to eat yet he did just so he could experience what it's like to eat with a crew once more, to experience the feelings that come with that. Sure, he's eccentric but he's been alone forever. Luffy was the perfect person to find him, I'm sure there's been times before the Straw Hats came through where he sent people off running. If he was in a society he must have been treated like Chopper was, like a monster. But, he's really a sweet guy and he's just so happy he toughed out his times out here and finally ran into some good people once more, because people are joy.
It was when he was telling Luffy if he could cry of happiness he would that I was tearing up. Oda is amazing. And the voice actor for Brook is too. The way you can get so much emotion out of a skeleton with no possible facial expressions is wonderful. Out of body language, inferences, and that perfect voice alone we can tell everything we need to about how he's feeling. I honestly haven't ever seen a character like Brook before. He appears so simple and impossible to read, but when you look into it he seems so incredibly complex and hard to grasp. At 19:56 when he gave the line, "Putting that aside, let's sing", it all made sense to me. The first half, the putting that aside bit was so breathtakingly sad. If he could be, he would be crying in that moment. He knows he can't go with the first crew and friend he's made in a decade or more. But, just like we've seen, he tries his hardest to appreciate the little things he does have. He pulls out that violin and tries to enjoy the time he does have, his voice picking up from bitter sadness to his usual eccentric tone in the second half of the sentence. He mentioned his second life coming to an end and I assume that would be when his bones fall apart.
That's only talking about Brook by himself too. His relationship with Luffy is brilliant. It's just like Luffy with his emotional awareness to tell what the kind of people he meets are moments after meeting them. When he told Luffy about his shadow problem I knew Luffy would pull a Crocodile and suggest "So... WE JUST NEED TO GET IT BACK FROM THAT GUY!". I particularly adored when Brook gave his skull joke and shouted "SKULL JOKE!!!" and everyone had a blank face except for Luffy who yelled "SKULL JOKE!!!" back, clapping. God, I love these two. I also adored the joke where Brook said he thought his devil fruit power was literally not being able to swim.
Maybe I am going too far. I've known him for two episodes. But Brook has put me on the brink of tears already and I'm in love.
So the flare seems to be a signal and trap from a band of ghost marauders. They sent that ghost last episode and he was seen in a shot behind Chopper. He was probably a scouting ghost to keep the Straw Hats tracked down and report back to whoever is in charge. And, because this is a story, narratively we can assume the guy who took Brook's shadow is in Thriller Bark.
Usopp's anti evil outfit and Choppers cross he got from Usopp make these outfits continue to be the best in One piece... even if Luffy's orange still doesn't sit right with me.
Thriller Bark has seriously had two of the funniest episodes period, as well as the first two best starting episodes of an arc for me. If this keeps up this arc will be a favorite.. I love the Halloween-spooky imagery too. The guy who got obliterated was gruesome.
Seems I was right about the curse-like reasoning Brook had to stay on this sea and his devil fruit power. \0/ Can't wait to see next episode. :) |